Nasadiya Sukta — the hymn of creation, opening verse
The first verse of the Rigveda's creation hymn, which opens by denying that there was either being or non-being.
Rigveda 10.129.1edition
Sanskrit · संस्कृत
Read in another script
No verified recitation yet. We publish audio only with a named reciter and a recorded licence, rather than files of unknown provenance.
Meaning
Then there was neither non-being nor being. There was no air, nor the sky beyond it. What stirred? Where? In whose keeping? Was there water, unfathomably deep?
This rendering is by a DharmSetu editor, not a quotation from a published translation. Compare with the public-domain translation.
A Hindi meaning has not been written for this mantra yet. Hindi is authored by a named editor rather than machine-translated, so it arrives more slowly.
How to recite
- Time
- brahma muhurta
Pronunciation key — sounds commonly got wrong
- ट ठ ड ढ ण · ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ
- Retroflex — the tongue curls back and touches the roof of the mouth. Distinct from the dental त थ द ध न, where the tongue touches the teeth.
- श ष स · ś ṣ s
- Three different sounds: ś as in “shy”, ṣ retroflex and further back, s plain. Collapsing them changes words.
- ः · ḥ (visarga)
- A soft outward breath echoing the preceding vowel — not a hard “ha”.
- ं · ṃ (anusvara)
- Nasalises the vowel; the closing sound follows the consonant that comes next.
- Long vs short vowels — a / ā, i / ī, u / ū
- Vowel length is meaningful in Sanskrit. Hold the macron vowels roughly twice as long.
- Aspirated consonants — kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh
- A distinct puff of breath. ph is an aspirated p, never an English “f”.
Word by word
- न असत्na asat
- not non-beingMW1899-CDSL p.118
- न उ सत्no sat
- nor beingMW1899-CDSL p.1134
- आसीत्āsīt
- was(3rd sg. imperfect)MW1899-CDSL p.117
- तदानीम्tadānīm
- then, at that timeMW1899-CDSL p.434
- रजःrajaḥ
- the middle region, airMW1899-CDSL p.863
- व्योमvyoma
- sky, spaceMW1899-CDSL p.1029
- शर्मन्śarman
- shelter, keepingMW1899-CDSL p.1058
- अम्भःambhaḥ
Context
Shadanga — the six limbs
The traditional analytic frame for a mantra. Blank limbs are simply not recorded for this text.
- chhanda
- Trishtubh
Recited at / traditionally recited for
Classified as Vedic — From the Vedic corpus — Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka or Upanishad. Carries a rishi, a metre, and accent marking. Basis for this classification.
Related mantras
Purnamadah Purnamidam
The fullness verse — take fullness from fullness and fullness remains. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.1.1.
Agnim Ile — the first verse of the Rigveda
The opening verse of the Rigveda, and so the first line of the Vedic corpus — an invocation of Agni.
Sangachhadhvam Samvadadhvam
The closing hymn of the Rigveda, on moving together and speaking together — Rigveda 10.191.2.